Making Your HIIT Workout More Effective

Abbreviated as HIIT, high intensity interval training is currently one of the most prevalent trends in the world of fitness. This fitness training involves alternating between high intensity workouts and low intensity exercises, or between intense burst of activities and a fixed interval of less intense workouts or even complete rest.

How to Start Making Your HIIT Workout More Effective

For instance, you can begin by running as fast as possible for 2 minutes then walk for another 3 minutes. Repeat the same 5-minute interval three times in a day to make a total of 15-minute fat-burning workout.

This fitness routine may sound fairly simple and less effective, but science has proven how efficient it is when it comes to revving up your metabolism and improving your endurance. One study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology indicated that HIIT works your muscles to their ultimate potential.

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A sweat session of high intensity interval training is an efficient way to get tough, get conditioned, and get lean in a dramatically reduced time commitment. Nevertheless, you must have an understanding of how to customize HIIT to realize these benefits.

Customizing HIIT Workout

Each type of workout is fully customizable to suit different needs and fitness goals. And when done regularly, the right HIIT workout routine gets you into shape faster than any other exercise routine out there.

As Dr. Lucas MD explains, a well-tailored HIIT workout routine has what it takes to optimize your muscle gain and cardiovascular benefits. It also tends to minimize the catabolic effects often occasioned by more extended cardio workouts.

Optimizing your high intensity interval training is an incredibly effective way to burn fat, torch calories, and achieve the body composition and fitness goals you want. Here, the fitness pro shares the 3 strategies for making your HIIT workout more effective than ever before.

1. Get Adequate Rest Periods

We all adore the idea of working out and completing the routine in less than 25 minutes. It does sound appealing, but you have to keep in mind that HIIT is all about working your body to the max.

You may end up overdoing it if you aren’t careful enough. While HIIT workout significantly cuts down your exercise time, it’s imperative to assign yourself enough rest periods.

When starting HIIT for the first time, try to modify your exercises in line with your fitness level. You might want to take a 3-minute rest every four minutes of working out.

The best part is that you’ll get stronger and recover quicker over time, thus reducing your rest intervals between each set. Also, use a monitor to watch out for your heart rate.

You could even skip out on certain exercises that might strain your heart, such as jumping moves. Begin with a single workout per week and increase from there. Of course, when starting out, you should cultivate a habit of taking a few days to rest to allow your body to recover during the week.

2. Mix It Up

There’s no doubt high intensity interval training is efficient, fast, and fun in a unique way. However, depending on it as your solo workout regimen may not yield the utmost results.

If you perform the same burpees and jumping jacks every other day, it will end up feeling like your exercise routine is getting easier by the day. And, repetitive exercise routines are highly likely to take the fun out of your day-to-day workout regimen.

Switching up your HIIT routine every day is a sure-fire way to keep your body guessing as well as to avoid getting bored along the way. Avoid performing the same exercise two times in a row – mix up!

Make a transition from a minute of flutter kicks into a minute of planks. Or switch up your jumping jacks to cross jacks for a whole new angle.

Also, make sure to indulge in longer workouts along with less intense cardio sessions. The beauty of HIIT is that you can choose whatever activities you enjoy, such as partaking in traditional straight-set weight practice or a weekly hip-hop dance class. It all boils down to your prerequisites.

3. Train Harder to Get Stronger

As the days and weeks go by, try to increase your difficulty by reducing your rest time, extending your HIIT workout session and repeating your HIIT. For a start, you can perform a specific exercise for about 45 seconds then take a rest for 15 seconds.

After a couple of weeks at the same level, increase your workout to about 50 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. The idea is to keep moving until you can eventually handle the whole routine without taking a rest at all.

Making your HIIT longer is also a fundamental way to make it more effective. Add more core, legs, arm, and cardio workouts into your exercise regimen – simply push exercises to 9 or 10.

Make sure to complete an iteration of the whole routine, take a rest for 1 minute, and then repeat the whole thing once more. Try as much as you can to work towards completing the whole exercise thrice through with a little rest or without rest.

While you keep pushing yourself to improve, have patience. Never sacrifice proper form and risk getting injured for the sake of trying workouts that are too challenging or for the sake of adding more repetitions.

Go at your own pace and listen to your body. What seems to be high-intensity to you may not be the same to your friend.

Start out with small intervals – such as 20-second intervals – and work your way up at your own tempo. Even the strongest athlete sometimes finds it difficult to go all-out for 4 minutes without a little rest.

Remember, too, that it might take some time to get the results. But, results do come with zeal and dedication. Stick to your workout routine and with time you’ll begin to notice the difference.

Final Word

Optimizing your high intensity interval training and making your HIIT workout more effective is key when it comes to increasing metabolism, boosting endurance, shredding body fat, and regulating insulin levels.

According to Dr. Lucas MD, it might take a little time and effort to get used to this level of intensity.

But in the end, HIIT workout builds lean muscle mass and optimizes more fat burning than steady-state cardio workouts.